Affect of a 3,000ft cliff on the landscape

[kirinke]

Well, if the world itself did this, then it can dictate the kinds of weather and natural phenomena surrounding it. Heck, the area within the cliff's boundry could be a subtropical paradise or a desert wilderness or a combination of the two. Use your imagination, go wild with it. After all, tis magic.

 

[dougmander]

If the prevailing winds hit the base of the cliff and are forced upslope, and the winds are moist, you would see the effects of orographic lifting: the air cools, the water vapor within it reaches the condensation point, and you get clouds and rain. On the far (lee) side of the cliff, the air would be dry and you might have a rain shadow where drier conditions prevail. I believe the soggy coastal range and drier central valley of Oregon are an example of this phenomenon.

 

[ForceUser]

Or, in this case by the sentient world, which would eliminate all the other problems you mentioned.

If a sentient world has gravity, it has landslides and other mass movements, as well as related effects such as tsunami. If anything, his world sounds more geologically active than the real world--what normally occurs over the course of millions of years of geologic time sounds like it occurs in a much shorter time frame in his campaign. The effects could be devestating to life. Overlooking that, at the least it is not unreasonable to suggest that living in the shadow of the cliffs is a bad idea.

 

[Munin]

Enworlders never fail to get my brain juices flowing


The cliff is for the most part a sheer wall dividing a relatively narrow section of the continent North by South. There is a gap at the ends allowing a limited amount of travel between the two areas. I wanted a third entrance point, and ForceUser's idea of a landside sounds like a good one. Somewhere in the middle of the cliffwall, a landslide occurred and over the course of time stabilized, creating a bridge of sorts between the two areas.

The cliff is more than a physical barrier, it is a demarcation between the civilized world (from the human perspective) and the wildlands. Humanity lies in fear of what is on the other side, and the races from the wildlands generally avoid contact with them. In a manner of speaking, Aeda (the world) excommunicated the human race, or at least the most prominent portion of it. Mankind is presently unaware of this, but that basic thought lies at the heart of the mythology of humankind. The exploration of the wildlands, and the redemption of mankind is the foundation of the campaign.

 

[el-remmen]

I don't know - but it bugs me that a 20th level monk can jump off of it with no harm coming to him. .

- Put 100' Cap on Monk Falling El-Remmen

 

[painandgreed]

3,000 feet is pretty high and besides the rain shadow thing otehrs have mentioned, the air will be thinner that high. Until people from sea level aclimate, they'll get tired quicker. The sun will be more oppresive and it will be colder in the cold seasons, basically like the great basin in Northern Nevada.

 

[runtime]

3000' is not that big. In Yosemite National Park, El Capitan is 3000' and Half Dome is 4,737 feet (0.897 miles). Rock-climbers scale both all the time.

I might imagine that people are more likely to descend than ascend the climb. That one-way migration might have interesting cultural effects.

 

[loki44]

I'm adding a unique piece of terrain to my gameworld. Essentially, an entire sub-continent is seperated by the rest of the campaign world by a massive, wall-like cliff.

Instead of "wall-like", maybe think "on top of" ala tepui.

http://www.canyonsworldwide.org/tepui/

Tepuis are very dramatic and produce massively tall waterfalls. Unknown and little known species live atop tepuis (assuming that's the pl. of tepui). And I agree with runtime.....why stop at 3,000 ft.? A 12,000 ft. high, sub-continent sized tepui.....that's epic.

 

[Eosin the Red]

Instead of "wall-like", maybe think "on top of" ala tepui.

http://www.canyonsworldwide.org/tepui/

Tepuis are very dramatic and produce massively tall waterfalls. Unknown and little known species live atop tepuis (assuming that's the pl. of tepui). And I agree with runtime.....why stop at 3,000 ft.? A 12,000 ft. high, sub-continent sized tepui.....that's epic.

That is a great site.

 

[mythusmage]

I don't know - but it bugs me that a 20th level monk can jump off of it with no harm coming to him. .

Monks have parachutes !